The Germany U21 national team began their European U21 Championship in Georgia and Romania with a 1-1 draw against Israel. Antonio Di Salvo’s side came from behind to draw despite missing two penalties.
Di Salvo made five changes to the side that faced Romania in the last game. Luca Netz, Henning Matriciani, Yann Aurel Bisseck and Josha Vagnoman formed a back four in front of goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, with Angelo Stiller, Yannick Keitel, Tom Krauß and Denis Huseinbašić in midfield. Youssoufa Moukoko partnered Kevin Schade in attack.
Fiery start
The game got off to a flying start from a Germany perspective, with Roy Revivo bringing down Kevin Schade in the area after just over 60 seconds. Youssoufa Moukoko stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick but goalkeeper Daniel Peretz guessed the corner and saved (3’). Germany tried to play on the front foot and had another effort through a Denis Huseinbašić long shot (10’), while Israel looked to hit on the break. Their first good chance came after an error from Noah Atubolu, but the goalkeeper made up for his mistake to keep the scores level (13’).
A few minutes later, Moukoko received the ball on the turn and looked to get behind the line, but his touch was a little too heavy and Peretz was able to dive on the loose ball (15’). Dor Turgeman did brilliantly to give his side the lead, turning a defender and creating space on his left, before shooting across goal into the far right corner (20’). Germany responded quickly, with captain Yann-Aurel Bisseck heading in from Angelo Stiller's free kick (26’). Di Salvo's side were on top after equalising and could have taken the lead before half time, but a shot by Tom Krauß was blocked (36’) and Yannick Keitel was denied impressively by Peretz (40’). Shortly before the first-half whistle, Eden Kartsev was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Stiller and his side were down to ten men.
Germany can’t make use of advantage
Germany enjoyed the better start to the second half as they looked to take the lead for the first time. The first chance of the half fell to Moukoko after a ball from Stiller, but his effort went just wide of the post. Germany continued to pressure the ten-man Israel side and the next chance involved Moukoko again, who couldn’t crown a good run with a goal, only finding the goalkeeper with his shot (64’).
The final major chance of the game came when Germany were awarded their second penalty of the match in the 78th minute, after Gil Cohen caught Tom Krauß with an elbow on the edge of the six-yard box. This time it was substitute Jessic Ngankam who stepped up, but Peretz came out on top again, saving this time to his left. The rebound fell to Kevin Schade, but he missed the target with a first-time effort.
In the next group match, Germany will face Czech Republic on Saturday (18:00 CEST) before playing England in the final group game on 28th June (18:00 CEST).